"I agree with Wayne because what Wayne was saying is that the referees should referee what's in front of them and that's exactly the instruction I've given them as a policy direction from the league since the start of the competition," he said on Triple M.

"I've made it very clear that of course I want the referees to stay out of the game when they're able to do that but that's in the hands of the players. If the players decide they want to push the limits of the rules then the referees have to get involved, as we saw yesterday."

As for the players getting away with murder because there were less penalties being blown, Annesley compared Friday's games to show why he didn't think this was the worst era he's seen for taking advantage.

"If you contrast the game we saw yesterday afternoon with the one we saw last night, it was pretty much chalk and cheese," he said.

"It changes from game to game, and teams will take different tactics into different games.

"Clearly yesterday, there was an attempt to slow the play the ball down. As a result there were 20 penalties in that game.

"We've seen a lot of games with less than 10, so the referees have to react to that and if teams go in with that sort of approach, then the referees have the responsibility to react to that."